


Ghost In My Bedroom

by orphan_account



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M, and luke has to put up with him, clearly AU because you can't have a band with michael being dead and a ghost, michael is a ghost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-29
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-02-15 07:57:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2221431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>I made a brand of my own poison that I gave to you</em><br/><em>It was the first of my experiments I’m going to put you through</em><br/><em>Now it’ll only make you dizzy, sick, and paralyzed</em><br/><em>I think you’ll live without the antidote, the ending’s a surprise</em><br/>-OR-<br/>Luke and his parents have just moved house, and lucky Luke, there’s a surprise living in his bedroom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Luke sighed softly as he walked into his house, his parents not home yet. Meaning, he was all alone in the new house, with a terribly empty silence.

He made his way up to his bedroom, pausing outside the door as he heard music playing. Which was...odd, to say the least, he had made sure to turn off his iPod before he left for school. Plus, it wasn’t attached to his speakers at the moment. Which meant...someone was in his room?

Wary, he took off his shoe, holding it in his hand, just in case. He could chuck it at the person in his room if they shouldn’t be there, and then use his - admittedly rusty - boxing skills to try and take them down.

He opened his door, only to see his iPod raise up, the song changing a few times as if someone was flicking through his music library. And then it just fell to the ground, from the middle of the air, where it had been  _floating_.

Luke froze, not at all sure as to how he should, or could, deal with this. So, he put his shoe back on and picked his iPod up as blink-182 kept playing from his pink speakers. On a positive note, it wasn’t cracked, so Luke just sighed softly and set it back on his dresser, staring at it for a moment, jumping back as the song abruptly changed again. So he unplugged it, tossing it in a drawer for now, going down to the kitchen to get his homework done.

**-:-:-:-:-**

To Luke’s gratefulness, nothing odd happened for two weeks. Well, nothing majorly odd like his iPod floating around his room. Occasionally, the song would skip or he would put something down only for it to be moved slightly, or he’d just hear random humming, which was a bit scary at three in the morning when the rest of his family was asleep.

Or, once, he had run out of water in his cup, and he had been contemplating whether getting up to get more would be worth it, when he heard the sound of running water, and froze for a few minutes, as no one was home, before he managed to look over towards his door, which was in the direction of the bedside table that his cup, lamp, and alarm clock were on. And the cup was once again full of water. Luke had chosen to ignore it, instead staring at his television again until he was reasonably less freaked out.

The final straw for Luke was when he was laying in bed one night, staring at the far wall and trying to sleep, when his guitar lifted itself from the stand, floating over to a chair by where he was staring, and adjusted itself to be positioned like someone was sitting on the chair and playing it. He rolled over, squeezing his eyes shut as the music played by seemingly no one came from his guitar.

All of these strange events were why Luke was now sat on his floor, pulling an Ouija board out of its box, which he knew was a bad idea, but maybe he could just tell whatever it was to piss off.

“How stupid are you that you’re gonna use an Ouija board instead of just trying to say hi?”

Luke jumped, turning his head so fast that it was surprising that he didn’t end up with whiplash.

“I..what...who are you?”

“Sign that damn thing off, will you?”

Luke immediately moved the planchette to Goodbye, tossing the Ouija board back into the box, turning to face the boy in his room again.

“Are you-”

“Yes, I’m dead. My name is Michael, I died last year. Hey, did you know how messy it gets when a motorcycle gets hit by a semi-truck?”

Luke winced, but Michael merely sat next to him, close enough that his shoulder was touching Luke’s, and Luke could feel the coldness from the ghost’s body radiating toward his own.

“Anyway, any questions?”

“Uhm…”

Michael sighed, his head falling back.

“C’mon, Hemmings, you have the chance to ask a dead person questions, take it.”

“How old are you?”

“Now? Eighteen. When I died? Seventeen.”

“Why are you a ghost?”

“I have shit to do. Only reason I’d be here.”

“Does it involve me?”

Michael shrugged, looking Luke up and down.

“Not you specifically, but I like you enough.”

“What-”

Michael placed his hand over Luke’s mouth, and Luke shivered.

“I’ll get warmer the more I’m around you, don’t worry. But hush. Other questions, don’t worry why I’m here.”

Luke just stared down at the hand covering his mouth, reaching towards it, slightly surprised that he was able to lift it and move it to the side.

“What-”

“You and your parents have lived here for a few months, the more human energy there is in the place I choose to inhabit, the stronger and more...I dunno, corporeal, I am. Like a parasite.”

Michael grinned, and Luke found it slightly off-putting, but decided to just write it off due to him most likely not talking to anyone in a year.

“But how does energy help?”

Michael leant back on his hands, eyes trained on Luke.

“Absorption. Like a sponge.”

“You’re like a sponge?”

Michael nodded, smiling.

“Yup, nice to see that you’ve picked that up.”

“So what exactly can a ghost do?”

“Depends on the type. I can do a multitude of things. interact with objects or people, I can talk to certain people, invisibility, floating, walking through objects. Generic ghost stuff, plus a bit more.”

That piqued Luke’s curiosity as he tried to figure out what the bit more might be.

“What do you mean by that?”

Michael simply grinned, leaning over into him, laughing as Luke violently shivered.

“You’ll find out in due time, Lukey.”

“But what does that mean?”

Michael shook his head.

“It means exactly what I said, nothing more, nothing less. You’ll find out when I want you to find out -  _if_  I want you to find out.”

And with that, Michael got up and walked over to Luke’s iPod.

“In the meantime, let’s talk music.”


	2. Chapter Two

“Up and at ‘em, Sunshine!”

Luke groaned as Michael threw open the window curtains, throwing a pillow through the semi-transparent boy and rolling over, pulling his blanket over his head. The dark haired ghost huffed, grumpily walking over to Luke.

“C’mon, I’m bored and it’s two in the afternoon.”

“I like sleeping.”

“So do I, but it does nothing for me now. Get up.”

He grabbed onto Luke’s arm, tugging at it to try and lift the other boy.

“Get up, dammit.”

“It’s been a month, get over the fact that I don’t get up on the weekends.”

“Let’s play Twister.”

“No, your limbs stretch weird and you kept touching my dick last time.”

Michael just grinned at the reminder, choosing to flop onto Luke, who squirmed at Michael’s cool temperature.

“You make funny faces.”

Luke rolled his eyes, curling up into a ball and closing his eyes, mumbling.

“I’m not fucking a ghost, go away.”

“What makes you think you’re my type?”

Luke just snorted, tugging his blanket over his head again, only for Michael to heave him out of bed. He stumbled for a moment, eyes wide before he turned to face the dead boy, pointing his finger at him.

“What was that for, you rude ass ghost?”

Michael just grinned, prodding him towards the dresser.

“C’mon, get dressed and let’s do something.”

Luke shot a mournful look at his still warm bed before looking at Michael.

“You have to get out.”

“Why?”

Luke rolled his eyes, sighing.

“Because, I don’t need to have you see me changing, ghost or not.”

Michael just laughed, resting his head on Luke’s shoulder. Luke found that he was awfully clingy, but it was bearable, so he never said anything.

“Please, it’s nothing I’ve never seen.”

“I’d like to keep  _my_  nudity private though.”

“What did I just say?”

Luke whined, wiggling away from the ghost.

“That’s an invasion of my privacy.”

Michael just shrugged, folding his legs as he floated in the air, Luke now digging through his dresser.

“It didn’t bother you before.”

Luke just huffed as he slid into his closet to get dressed, because - as far as he knew - Michael couldn’t see through things.

“Because I didn’t know about it.”

“Then I’ll keep quiet about the magazines under your bed or what you look up in incognito tabs.”

If the dark haired ghost possessed the ability to see through the closet door that Luke was hiding behind, huffing as he yanked his jeans up his legs, cheeks bright red from embarrassment.

“Is  _that_  why you’re always hitting on me?”

“Yeah, if you weren’t at least curious about guys I wouldn’t. But you are, so it’s loads of fun to make you go red.”

Luke pushed open his closet door, sending a glare at Michael as he tossed his pajamas into the hamper.

“Then why have you only told me stories about how many girls you were with when you were alive?”

“Because I thought of myself as straight.”

Luke crossed his arms, still across the room from Michael, as his boxers had decided to miss the hamper and instead fall onto the ground in front of the door. And Luke would much rather just pick them up than have his mum yell at him later.

“Yet you hit on me, like we’ve established.”

Michael just grinned, floating towards Luke and grinning in his face, almost uncomfortably close.

“Sexuality doesn’t matter when you’re dead, and you’re cute.”

With that, Michael kissed Luke’s nose and promptly went through him, through the wall. Luke shrieked, immediately brushing his hands down the front of the body. He absolutely hated when Michael just went through him, it felt like he’d just been dunked in water, although Michael had promised that his temperature would warm with time. And it was true, he had gotten noticeably warmer in the amount of time that he had been haunting Luke, although it was still very unpleasant for Luke without warning.

“Here, I got you a cookie.”

Luke took the cookie from Michael, shaking his head.

“Not breakfast food.”

Despite his words, he immediately scarfed it down, and Michael smiled, wrapping his arms around Luke and laughing as the taller boy shivered.

“You ate it though.”

Luke just made an indifferent noise, shrugging.

“Let’s go to the park.”

“No, because you get pissy when I ignore you and people look at me weird when I talk to you because they can’t see you.”

Michael huffed, walking over to Luke’s television.

“Then we’re playing a game.”

“As long as it’s not Mortal Kom-you fuck.”

Michael just grinned at Luke, tossing him a controller.

“You love me.”


	3. Chapter Three

Luke never gave Michael’s life much thought until he caught Michael staring as he ate pizza while curled up under his blanket while home sick one day.

“What? Why are you staring? I know I look like shit, but I’m s-”

“How’s it taste?”

Luke paused for a second, quite taken aback by the question.

“What? The pizza?”

“No, your hand, yes, the pizza.”

Luke shrugged, staring at the slice in his hand.

“Dunno, my nose is stuffed so I can’t taste it.”

Michael sighed when Luke said that, sprawling out across Luke’s bed, his eyes closed.

“Honestly, I can’t remember what most things taste like.”

“What happens if you try to eat?”

Michael simply shrugged, his head lolling towards Luke, opening his eyes to stare at the red nosed boy, who was staring back in curiosity.

“It tastes like shit and then it just sits in my stomach for a while before disappearing.”

“Well, what did you like to eat when you were alive?”

Michael just smiled, resting his arm behind his head.

“I was a picky eater, I didn’t even know half the time.”

“Well, I don’t know anything about you.”

Michael sighed, sitting up to scoot over to Luke, leaning against the sick boy.

“What, you want my life story?”

“Mmhm.”

Luke placed the pizza box to the side, turning to Michael with a smile and a tissue in hand.

“So, where do you start?”

**-:-:-:-:-**

_Michael Clifford grew up with a rather normal life. That is, if going to funerals at least twice a year was a normal thing. But in his family, it was._

_Other than that, Michael had the typical life, if it was just a bit on the lonelier side. He’d had maybe four girlfriends over his seventeen years of life, a group of friends, and his parents were married and the three Cliffords lived in a reasonably nice house with their dog, Federer._

_When he was sixteen, Michael decided that he’d rather learn to ride a motorcycle as opposed to drive a car, so at the earliest possible date, he got his license and was soon riding everywhere on it._

_He was on the way home one day from a quick trip to the grocery store to get himself something to eat, as his parents were out for the night. It had begun to rain, so he had started to drive slower as the rain got heavier, and not even ten minutes from his house, a semi truck skidded through a puddle and slammed right into his motorcycle._

_He was pronounced dead on impact. But honestly, how couldn’t he have been dead on impact? His motorcycle was a complete wreck, along with his body. Michael knew that the driver of the semi truck spent months buried in guilt, even though it wasn’t his fault at all - not even Michael’s parents blamed him, it was just bad weather, bad timing, and bad circumstances. Yet, it drove the man insane, and the crash inevitably led to two funerals, one six months after the other._

_Needless to say, Michael’s funeral was closed casket. He was just Humpty Dumpty, all the king’s horses, and all the king’s men, couldn’t put Michael together again. He had spent a week of being a ghost around his parents until their grieving just became too much to handle, and he left._

_Where to, he refused to tell Luke. All he would say is that it was far away. Ridiculously far, to the point where Luke would never see the place in his lifetime. After about six months there, he had found a nice little empty house and settled in, until Luke and his parents moved in._

_The rest, Luke knew. Michael had ended up with a strong..._ fondness _, to say the least for Luke, and Luke had ended up with a supernatural entity as a best friend._

**-:-:-:-:-**

“So, there, you know my life story now.”

Luke smiled slightly, sniffling as Michael handed him another tissue, cuddling close to the taller boy, his chin on Luke’s shoulder.

“So, any other questions for me, Mister Hemmings?”

Luke blew his nose, tossing the tissue into the trashcan he had dragged over to his bed before looking at Michael.

“Yeah. Why do you like  _me_ , of all people.”

Michael just smiled, wrapping his arms around Luke.

“You’re cute and I like your music taste. And seeing as how that was my criteria for girlfriends, how would this be different.”

“But you’re dead.”

Michael surprisingly laughed at that, squeezing Luke slightly.

“Ah, yes, that does put a bit of a damper on our relationship, doesn’t it?”

Luke just stared at him before grabbing another tissue and speaking firmly.

“I’m not gonna fuck, or be fucked  _by_  a ghost.”

He fiercely blew his nose, looking quite annoyed, so Michael retracted his arms, scooting over to lay down on the further side of the bed as Luke flopped down onto the pillow.

“When you get better, can we play Twister?”

“No, I already told you, you cheat.”

“How about if I don’t stretch my limbs?”

Luke thought about it for a moment before shrugging.

“Maybe.”

Michael smiled slightly, adjusting the blanket around Luke.

“Alright, go to sleep, doofus.”

“That’s rude.”

Michael grinned at him, kissing his forehead.

“I know. Goodnight.”

Luke huffed, but closed his eyes.

“Goodnight Michael.”

**-:-:-:-:-**

Luke set down his backpack once inside his room, turning his head behind himself to see if Michael had followed him, only to find himself unable to see the dark haired ghost.

“Michael?”

There was no response, so he turned around to look out the door and down the hall, calling out Michael’s name again. This time, arms encircled his waist from behind.

“Boo.”

Luke jumped, turning around and flicking Michael’s arm. The ghost surprisingly put a hand over his arm, rubbing it and glaring at Luke.

“That hurts now, you dick. When I choose to be solid like this for your sake so you can see me, I get to feel pain.”

“Sorry.”

Michael just rolled his eyes, shaking his head and mumbling to himself about how Luke clearly wasn’t sorry before perking up again.

“So, can we play Twister now?”

Luke paused for a moment before consenting, causing Michael to grin and dash off towards the closet to get the box.

Playing Twister with two people was a lot easier, and harder, when one of those people was a ghost. Easier, because the spinner could move without someone flicking it. Harder, because it took a lot more to knock a ghost over due to their ability to stretch their limbs further than any other human being. Luke was now just hoping that Michael now being able to possess a more solid state meant that he could fall over now.

Unfortunately, at this point in the game, if Michael fell, he’d take Luke down with him, as the taller boy was stretched out under Michael, struggling to stay up. The spinner moved again, and Luke groaned as Michael spoke.

“Left hand, blue.”

“Fuck you, Clifford.  
Luke shifted his balance to reach across the board to place his left hand on a blue circle, wincing as his right leg began to cramp.

“Okay, hurry before I fall.”

“Well, I want you to fall, don’t I?”

“Michael, please.”

Michael just laughed above him.

“I love it when you beg.”

Luke huffed, and Michael suddenly swore.

“What?”

“I have to cross my legs, but yours is in the way.”

“So?”

“We both lose!”

Michael went spreadeagle, causing Luke to fall onto his back with a thump.

“You’re an ass.”

Michael just grinned as he turned over to look at Luke, chest to chest with him now.

“You love me.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

Michael smiled innocently, and Luke was suddenly aware that not only were they chest to chest, but Michael’s face was looming right over his, in fact, if he wanted, he could just lift his head and - no. That was  _completely_ _inappropriate_ , who kisses a ghost? And besides, there was no way that was going to happen. Yes, Luke liked guys, and yes, Michael was really cute, and yes, if they had met a year ago, Luke would be all over him, but Michael was dead and a ghost, and so Luke was drawing a line there.

Not even a line really, a Great Wall of China.

Yet even while he was thinking about it, Michael’s face seemed to get closer, and he shut his eyes to concentrate on his Wall.

But it happened.

Cool lips descended onto Luke’s, and for a second -  _a mere second_  - he had a simple thought of ‘ _Wow, this is nice_ ,’ before his eyes flew open again, Michael’s mouth was off of his, and Luke wiggled out from under him, immediately booking it out of his room, out of the door of his house, just out of there, away from the ghost of Michael.


	4. Chapter Four

“You know you can’t ignore me, right?”

Luke ignored Michael trailing behind him, instead walking down the street like he didn’t notice the ghost.

“Okay, so you can. But you can’t get rid of me, I’m not going anywhere.”

When Luke refused to acknowledge Michael’s presence, he ran his hand through his hair, huffing.

“Look, I’m sorry, what do you want me to say?”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

Luke stopped, leaning against a tree in the park they had ended up at.

“ _Why_  the  _fuck_  would you do that?”

Michael just shrugged, and Luke huffed, waiting for a proper response.

“I don’t know, okay, there was an opportunity and I took it, I already said sorry.”

“That’s not the point, I’ve said several times-”

“That you won’t fuck or be fucked by a ghost. You said nothing about kissing a ghost.”

“So?”

“Luke, I said I was sorry already, what more do you want from me?”

“I didn’t ask for an apology, I asked why the hell you kissed me!”

“I don’t even do apologies.”

Luke huffed, glaring at the barely transparent ghost. Clearly, kissing Luke had counted as transferred human energy, and had made Michael stronger, which he blatantly showed off as he grabbed Luke’s hands and held them at his sides, against the tree.

“Let me go, dumbass.”

Luke tried to yank his hands away, only for Michael to hold them tighter. Michael grinned at the younger boy, almost predatorily.

“You liked it.”

“Liked  _what_?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Hemmings. You liked it when I kissed you.”

“That has nothing to do with it.”

Michael simply smiled.

“Lukey, that has  _everything_  to do with it.”

“But-”

“Don’t deny yourself something you enjoy.”

Luke nodded slightly, and Michael smiled, leaning in and kissing Luke again as Luke felt the very foundation of his Wall collapse.

And it wasn’t like Michael was a bad kisser either. Luke just felt a bit uncomfortable, especially knowing that someone - anyone, could walk by and see Luke apparently kissing the air. And if they could  _see_  Michael, well, that would be a whole other slew of problems. He wasn’t even out at his new school yet, not after he had been tormented and then ultimately kicked out of his old school for coming out, hence his family moving. It was just safer and healthier for Luke here.

Eventually, Luke became aware of the fact that his hands were free, and as he had to breathe, even though Michael didn’t, he pulled away and buried his face in his hands, face bright red.

Michael just laughed at him, pulling him forwards so that he was against Michael’s chest, letting him bury his face in Michael’s neck.

“You wanna go get coffee or something?”

“You can’t drink coffee.”

Michael smiled, rubbing Luke’s back.

“No, but you do.”

Luke looked up at him with a serious expression.

“This isn’t a date.”

“Of course not, I can’t pay for your coffee.”

Luke rolled his eyes, following Michael to the small coffee shop as Michael babbled on about how he had been there a few times and how they’d had really good donuts.

After getting his coffee - and donut, at Michael’s insistence -, Luke sat down at the back of the building, on the sidewalk.

“You were right.”

“About what?”

“These  _are_  really good donuts.”

Michael just grinned, nudging Luke’s side.

“I told you.”

Luke smiled, and listened to Michael talk about the different donuts they had at different times of the year.

“There’s even this ones with little menorah sprinkles during Hanukkah.”

Luke laughed, but abruptly stopped his laughter as he heard someone call his name.

A girl walked up to him, smiling.

“Hey Luke.”

Luke smiled, recognising her from his English class.

“Hi.”

“So what are you doing out here all alone?”

Luke just lifted his coffee cup slightly.

“Enjoying my day.”

“Would you like some company?”

“Sure, I suppose it’d be nice.”

Michael huffed as the girl - Ashleigh, Luke now remembered - sat down in the same spot as him, forcing him to move to Luke’s other side.

They talked for a while, Michael clearly grumpy at being ignored, until Luke realised how hungry he had gotten. Except, he didn’t want to be rude and tell Ashleigh that he was hungry in the middle of her sentence.

“Hey, Luke, do you wanna go get something to eat?

Luke sighed softly in relief that she had spoken first.

“Yeah, that’d be great. Where do you wanna go?”

She led him down the street for a few blocks until they reached a pizza place. Unfortunately, Luke found it a bit hard to keep up a conversation with her as they ate, as Michael kept grumbling the whole time and making snide remarks about everything Ashleigh said.

As Luke got up to pay for the pizza, he made a mental note to smack Michael for being rude the whole time, even if Ashleigh didn’t even know he existed.

“Oh, it’s gotten dark.”

Luke looked up at the sky, seeing that the sun was now barely even out.

“Yeah, damn. You want me to walk you home?”

She looked slightly surprised before smiling.

“Only if you want to, you have to get home too.”

“It’s fine.”

The walk to her house was pretty quiet, mainly because Luke was trying to ignore Michael making faces at him the whole time and singing loudly. Luke glared at him, and Michael just gave him a cheesy grin, clearly happy that Ashleigh was leaving them alone soon.

“Are you alright?”

Luke turned his head, taken aback by Ashleigh’s question.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry, I was just thinking about something, don’t worry.”

She smiled slightly before stopping in front of a wooden and stone house not dissimilar to Luke’s new house.

“Thank you for walking me home and everything.”

Luke just smiled, flipping Michael off behind his back as Michael began laughing loudly.

“No problem, I had fun today, it’s nice talking to you.”

Michael laughed louder, and Luke fought back the urge to turn around and slap the ghost. Ashleigh, however, just smiled, and in the space between then and Luke blinking, her mouth was on his. Luke squeaked, stepping back and throwing his hands over his mouth.

“I’m sorry-”

Luke just nodded as she turned bright red.

“I’m gay. Don’t tell anyone, please.”

She nodded quickly, going even redder.

“I’m really sorry, bye!”

She ran inside, and Luke turned around, rubbing the back of his hand over his mouth as Michael literally rolled around on the grass, laughing so hard tears came out of his eyes.

“You aren’t funny!”

“Your face!”

Luke huffed, walking off in the direction of his house, Michael following him, still laughing.

“Shut up, Clifford.”

“How did you not see that coming, oh my god, I expected it the moment she said it got dark, holy fuck!”

Luke just ignored the ghost for the umpteenth time of the day as he walked into his house and went into his bedroom, flopping onto his bed. Michael just laid on top of him, trying to stifle his laughter.

“Seriously though, how did you not expect that? You can’t take a girl on a date and then not kiss her afterwards.”

“It wasn’t a date, shut up.”

Michael smiled, resting his cheek on the back of Luke’s shoulder as the taller boy spoke with his face stuffed into his mattress.

“It was. You spent the afternoon and evening together, you went out for dinner, paid for her dinner, and then walked her home. That’s a date. Sorry.”

Luke groaned, and Michael laughed again, kissing what was visible of Luke’s cheek.

“So who’s better?”

“What?”

Michael spoke slower, as if Luke couldn’t understand him.

“Out of me and your girlfriend - don’t hit me, you dick - who’s the better kisser.”

Luke huffed, turning his head on its side so he could see Michael.

“I don’t have to answer that.”

“Of course you don’t. But I want you to.”

Luke shook his head as best as he could with one side against his bed.

“Nope. One of the two candidates is a girl and the other is dead, I don’t like either answer.”

Michael grinned, pressing his nose into Luke's neck.

“Except, you have to live with one of the candidates, so you’d better get over it and pick before I bother you every day about it for the rest of your life.”

Luke huffed, muttering something about exorcising Michael from his house.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“That’s what I thought.  _So_?”

Luke rolled his eyes and sighed.

“You, now shut up.”

Michael whooped, and Luke rolled over, poking Michael’s chest.

“You’re older than me, grow up.”

“I refuse.”

Michael snuggled into Luke’s chest, and Luke rolled his eyes, giving up as the ghost decided to have a nap on him.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter deals with vomiting a lot, just a forewarning if that might bother you.

“Michael, dammit, give it back!”

Michael shook his head, laughing as Luke stood on his bed.

“Still can't reach me!”

Luke sat on his bed with a huff, crossing his arms and pouting like he was a child that was put into the time out corner for being naughty.

“You're an ass.”

Michael just smiled sweetly at him, humming as he opened Google Chrome. He had taken Luke’s laptop and decided to sit on the ceiling with it so Luke couldn't take it away from him like he usually would have done when Michael took it without asking him first.

“Now, let’s see what you have in your history, shall we?”

Luke’s face flushed red, and he hugged a pillow to his chest, huffing indignantly.

“You're ridiculous, you know that?”

Michael just waved his hand dismissively at Luke, eyes flicking back and forth as he read the text on the screen.

“Why do you still go on Club Penguin? And, let’s see, oh, gay porn, how boring. ‘ _What to do if your roommate is hot_ ’. I'm flattered, Lukey.”

Luke buried his face in his pillow, doing quite a spot on imitation of a tomato.

“‘ _Legal definition of necrophilia_ ’. Interesting Google search Lucas, let’s see what it says. ‘ _Erotic attraction to or sexual contact with corpses_.’ Well, I'm not a corpse, so I guess you're safe there.”

Luke threw his pillow at Michael’s head, and rolled away when Michael floated down from the ceiling to sit next to him.

“No, let’s cuddle, since you obviously like me so much.”

Michael opened up his arms to Luke, and there was a second of silence before Luke’s hand flew out, his palm connecting right to Michael’s cheek. Michael’s expression immediately darkened, and he grabbed Luke’s wrist.

“Did you just fucking hit me?”

Luke yanked his hand away, still bright red in the face.

“Why do you have to be such an asshole to me so much? Every time I tell you not to do something, you go ahead and do it anyway!”

Michael stared at Luke, now seeing the angry, embarrassed tears in his eyes. He leant against Luke, wrapping his arms around the blond boy and burying his face in Luke’s neck.

“I’m sorry.”

Luke sighed, stroking Michael’s hair.

“I’m sorry I hit you.”

“‘S fine, you don't hit very hard anyway.”

“Hey!”

Michael just grinned at him, kissing his cheek.

“You're adorable, you know that?”

Luke flushed pink, rubbing his cheek as Michael laughed, peppering kisses all over his face, just so Luke would blush harder and harder.

**-:-:-:-:-**

“That is something I will never miss.”

“You suck.”

Michael just smiled, leaning against the wall in the bathroom.

“So, what is it? Morning sickness? Can’t be, I haven't gotten you pregnant yet.”

Luke simply flipped Michael off, too busy retching into the toilet bowl in front of him to respond verbally.

“That’s seriously disgusting though.”

Luke was only able to croak out a soft, “Fuck you, Clifford, no one asked you,” before he was back to emptying out his stomach through his mouth.

Michael sighed, taking pity on the boy and kneeling next to him to rub his back until Luke finally stopped and stood to brush his teeth. Or, rather, he tried to stand up to brush his teeth, but instead nearly fell over. Michael grabbed his arm, holding him upright until Luke was steady on his feet.

“Woah, no falling, you’ll crack your head open and die.”

Luke just groaned, leaning into Michael and burying his face in Michael’s shoulder.

“Okay, how about you brush your teeth before we cuddle, okay babe?”

Luke looked at Michael, blinking, his cheeks a slight shade of pink.

“Did you just call me ‘babe’?”

Michael grinned, nudging Luke towards the sink.

“Go on, brush your teeth.”

Luke huffed, complying before he sat down on the floor.

“What’s wrong?”

“I have to throw up again.”

Michael sighed, sitting down to run his fingers through Luke’s hair in an attempt to console the sick boy.

“Luke, there’s nothing in your stomach for you to even throw up anymore.”

“I know.”

Unfortunately, that didn't stop Luke from crawling back over to the toilet to painfully dry heave into it.

Michael wrinkled his nose in disgust and walked out of the bathroom, instead checking to make sure that Liz wasn’t home before he went into Luke’s room to grab the box of crackers and Gatorade hat she had brought him earlier, before he had dragged himself into the bathroom down the hall to spend his day in there.

Once Luke had backed away from the toilet once again, Michael sat next to him, brushing Luke’s hair out of his face.

“Who would have thought that food poisoning could make you puke that much?”

“Never let me attempt to make myself something for dinner that I've never cooked before. Especially without my mum to help me.”

Michael smiled, handing him the Gatorade.

“I told you the chicken wasn't cooked right.”

Luke groaned, flopping against the ghost after downing about half of the bottle of unfortunately room temperature Gatorade.

“Just feed me.”

Michael laughed, lifting a cracker and putting it up to Luke’s lips.

“Open up for the aeroplane, Lukey.”

Luke scowled at him as Michael repeatedly pressed the cracker to his mouth, making soft engine sounds.

“C’mon, eat it.”

“You love it when I'm miserable, don’t you?”

Michael opened his mouth in faux shock, pressing his hand to his unbeating heart.

“How could you say such a thing to me?”

Luke rolled his eyes and took the cracker from Michael, nibbling at it.

“Oh, so you ask me to feed you, but you go and take the cracker and feed yourself? How dare you, Hemmings?”

Luke just grinned as Michael crossed his arms, pouting.

“How dignified of you, Michael.”

Michael just stuck his tongue out at Luke before moving his arm so that the boy could cuddle into his side. He kissed the top of Luke’s head, rubbing Luke’s arm.

“How are you feeling now?”

“Uhm-oh shit.”

Michael’s question answered itself as Luke’s now partially filled stomach decided to empty itself again. Michael winced in sympathy before taking up his spot next to Luke again to rub his back as Luke whined in pain until Michael brought him his toothbrush and toothpaste again.

This was definitely not what Michael had ever imagined his afterlife to be like.

 

 


	6. Chapter Six

Luke had known that there was something different about him quite early on. The feeling had just gotten stronger and stronger until at the age of twelve, he had decided that he was “broken”, so - being quite the naïve child - he had asked his mother about returning his brain to get a new one, with the correct emotions.

She had to sit down with Luke and listen as he tried to explain his problem.

All of the boys Luke knew had at least liked a girl at some point, and some were even dating girls already. But Luke had never liked a girl in the way that they had all described to him when he had asked how they knew that they liked that girl on the swings or the one in Science class.

And so, his logical conclusion was simply that he was broken and in order to be fixed, he needed a new brain with the right emotions, so he could be “normal” and like girls.

The second Liz asked him about if he liked boys instead, his mind flittered through probably eight boys he was always too shy to go near before he violently shook his head.

“I’m a boy, so I have to like girls. Otherwise I’m gross and even more broken.”

But the floodgates had opened and Luke ended up spending an hour crying into his mum’s shoulder as Liz gently consoled him, rubbing his back and repeating that he wasn’t broken at all, and that no one should care that he liked boys instead of girls except for the people Luke cared the most about and the boys he dated.

Luke was officially comfortable enough to publicly come out four years later, when he was sixteen. But, unlike the love and acceptance he got from his family, he had suddenly gone from having loads of friends to being the subject of daily ridicule wherever he went.

It was fine for the first year, really. Luke had a steady boyfriend that he was head over heels for, and they got through it all together just fine. Until his parents found out about he and Luke, and moved entirely off the continent, leaving Luke alone to be abused by those he had grown up with and once called friends in his younger life.

Physically abused, mentally abused, emotionally abused, it was just a whirlwind of pain every day. Someone even it would be a brilliant idea to break his arm and then toss his phone into a fountain.

That had been six months prior to Luke’s expulsion from his school, which had been the breaking point. With Luke’s newly healed arm, the Hemmings took off, new hundreds of miles away, where no one knew about Luke’s sexuality.

Forcing their son back into the closet hadn’t been the ideal situation, but it kept Luke safe and at least mostly happy. As long as those two things were continuously upheld, Liz and Andrew were happy. Even if they had to pack up their lives and move again for it. Luke was worth it.

Yet all those years of feeling broken and being hurt had never come close to preparing Luke for his new life of being stuck with the ghost of Michael Clifford. After all, how was an eighteen year old boy supposed to do when he was being haunted by a ghost that he liked and liked him back? Surely, he couldn’t date it. Which is what Luke was currently trying to explain to Michael.

“But, Luke, if you like someone and then they like you back, what’s the logical thing to do?”

Luke sighed for the tenth time in his and Michael’s current conversation.

“You ask them out and go on dates and be cute.”

“So why do you refuse to date me?”

Luke groaned, flopping back onto his bed.

“Because, like I’ve said a thousand times, you’re dead, I can’t date a ghost.”

“Sure you could, you just don’t want to. But why not is my question.”

Luke lifted his head to look at Michael, raising his eyebrows.

“Okay, simple answer, I can’t take you home to my mum.”

“Of course not, I already live here.”

“Okay, how about we can’t go on dates?”

“Public dates.”

Luke’s head flopped down against his sheets again as he let out a soft breath.

“My arguments are always useless with you, aren’t they, Clifford?”

Michael smiled, moving to sit on Luke’s waist.

“Of course they are, glad you’ve picked up on that, only took you a few months.”

“Mmhm.”

Michael leant down to kiss Luke, and like usual, Luke just gave in and enjoyed it. Unfortunately, about ten seconds in, his bedroom door opened, and his eyes flew open and he stared at his mum in the doorway as Michael decided to move his mouth along to Luke’s neck.

“Hey Mum.”

Liz just smiled at him before pointing back over her shoulder with her thumb.

“Dinner’s ready when you get hungry.”

Luke nodded slightly, as much as he could with Michael’s face buried in his neck. Liz smiled, turning and leaving. Luke flicked Michael in the back of the head, and the ghost whined, rubbing the spot where it stung.

“Luke, that hurts.”

“I know that, you moron.”

Michael huffed, wrapping his limbs around Luke, clinging to him and kissing his neck.

“Don’t be rude to me, what have I ever done to you?”

Luke smiled, rubbing Michael’s back gently.

“Well, you aren’t all that comfortable to be laying on me all the time.”

“I said don’t be rude.”

“But why not? It’s fun to be rude to you.”

Michael shook his head, attaching his mouth to Luke’s for a moment before laying his head on the blond boy’s shoulder.

“You’re so mean to me sometimes, you know that?”

Luke just smiled, running his fingers through Michael’s dark hair.

“It’s how I show affection.”

“That’s an abusive relationship though.”

“You aren’t my boyfriend.”

“Maybe not to you. But to me, I am.”

Luke just closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around Michael as the ghost began humming softly.

“Fine.”

Michael grinned in triumph as Luke’s face tinted a slight shade of red as he slowly traced a heart over Michael’s back.

 


	7. Chapter Seven

“This is literally the most boring date I have ever been on.”

Michael huffed, crossing his arms.

“Not as bad as the chicken far-”

“Michael, this is  _worse_  than the chicken farm.”

Michael just pouted at Luke, who was sat on a fallen tree, picking at the loose bark on it.

“You’re so mean.”

“We’re in the middle of the woods.”

Michael sighed, pulling Luke to his feet.”

“Because I want to show you something, like I’ve said five times already.”

“If it’s your dick, I’m leaving.”

Michael just laughed, pulling Luke farther into the trees surrounding them.

“No, no, that comes later.”

Luke rolled his eyes, but allowed Michael to drag him along, through the branches and plants and over trees that had fallen. Michael just tended to lift him over those though, as it took far too long for Luke to scramble his way over them.

“If you can fly me around, why don’t you just fly me to where we’re going?”

Michael sighed as he pulled Luke off the ground again, floating him over a pond.

“You’re scared of heights.”

Luke began vehemently protesting from where his face was buried in Michael’s neck, only for him to drop Luke. Luke screamed before realising that Michael had only dropped him inches from the ground.

Michael was almost rolling around laughing as Luke smacked him in the shoulder, bright red in the face.

“Your face, holy shit Luke!”

“You’re an ass.”

Michael merely smiled, righting himself before continuing to tug Luke along.

“Where are we going?”

“Narnia, obviously. I’m showing you something special to me, chill.”

Luke pouted at the back of Michael’s head until he turned around, earning a small kiss from his ghost of a boyfriend. It was only two minutes later before his complaints started back up again.

“Are we there yet?”

“Don’t make me turn this formation around.”

Luke stared at the back of Michael’s head in confusion, slowly mouthing Michael’s words before shaking his head.

“What?”

Michael sighed, slowing down to Luke’s speed, covering his eyes and guiding him forwards.

“Have you ever watched  _Brother Bear_?”

“Never heard of it.”

“You poor child, you’ve been deprived. Alright, we’re here.”

“Then can I open my eyes?”

“No, that’s a ridiculous idea.”

Luke huffed, tugging Michael’s hands away from his face.

“You’re awful, you know that Clifford? Now, what am I supposed to look at?”

Michael tilted Luke’s head up slightly, and Luke laughed.

“It’s really shitty, I know, but I built it myself.”

“It’s kinda cute, really.”

Before Luke, about twenty feet in the air, was a treehouse that was built into three trees with uneven planks that had been painted quite badly, and the ladder up looked a bit rickety, but Luke liked it all the same because Michael had built it, and he had said it was special to him.

“Do you want to go in?”

“I would love to.”

Michael smiled, nudging Luke over to the ladder, which he cautiously climbed, cautious of splinters.

Once inside, he realised just how big the room was, and how much was in it. There were blinds over the glass windows, a small fluffy rug, a lamp that Luke presumed ran on batteries, a mattress that must have gone in before all of the walls were up, and then the mattress was fully set with sheets, pillows, blankets, a teddy bear, everything. Scattered throughout the treehouse were books that were slightly battered, and notebooks as well as random bottles. Against the wall, there were rectangles of paint that weren’t as faded, and Luke guessed that Michael had posters hung up inside. The lock on the badly installed door wasn’t that great, but it clicked shut when Luke tried it, so Michael had clearly made an effort in his small house-like room.

“There was a DS, but I guess my dad came and took it, my cousin has it now. Anyway, I’d leave the house at like eleven every night to come work on my tree house, which might be why it’s kinda bad, it was built in the middle of the night. All in all, I think it turned out decent enough though.”

Luke smiled, sitting on the bed, still looking around, trying to imagine the tree house in its prime, probably two years ago at this point.

“I can’t exactly imagine you building this.”

“No one knew I did, my parents thought I just found it.”

“So why are we here?”

Michael grinned, laying out beside Luke.

“Seduction.”

Luke laughed, shaking his head.

“I’m serious, Michael.”

“Who said I wasn’t, though?”

“Michael…”

Michael pouted for a moment before pulling Luke into his arms.

“Fine, I brought you here to cuddle.”

Luke smiled, burrowing himself into Michael’s chest.

“We could have cuddled at home.”

“Change of scenery is good once in a while though, yeah?”

Luke closed his eyes, still smiling.

“I suppose so, yeah.”

Michael began rubbing his back, and Luke shifted slightly to get more comfortable before letting Michael’s new warmth and humming lull him to sleep.

-:-:-:-:-

“Luke?”

Luke looked up at his father, raising an eyebrow to show that he had heard him as he chewed his food.

“Have you ever seen, or heard, anything...weird in the house? I know you’re moving soon to be closer to uni when it starts-”

Luke was slightly surprised that his parents caught onto that since he had only decided the night before when he had found an affordable house just twenty minutes from the university he had been accepted to.

“Uhm...yeah.”

“Anyway, have you noticed anything, or is it just me and your mother?”

Luke shot a side glance at Michael, who was leaning against the wall in the kitchen, staring at Luke.

“Noticed things like what?”

Liz made a soft ‘hm’ sound before she spoke.

“Like...things moving by themselves, singing from an empty room, weird scratches and bruises that come from nowhere, weird shadows, stuff like that.”

“Like...a ghost?”

“Exactly.”

Luke looked at Michael, who just laughed, the vibrations of his voice resonating throughout the room, scaring Luke a little.

“There we go, did you hear that?”

Luke slowly nodded in response to his father’s question.

“Great, then you’ll understand why we’re having someone in to get them out.”

Luke stared at his father in horror, shaking his head.

“What? No, you can’t do that, when?”

“About an hour, what’s the problem?”

“What if you piss the ghost off?”

Michael just smiled, walking across the room to kiss the top of Luke’s head, whispering in his ear.

“Don’t worry about me getting mad, I think this is hilarious.”

The rest of dinner passed in an awkward silence as the Hemmings waited for the medium to arrive, Luke standing by the front door impatiently after he had finished eating. The entire time the medium walked around the house, Luke followed her, trying to make sure that nothing she was doing would hurt Michael.

“You have lots of questions, don’t you?”

“It’s...interesting.”

She nodded before asking where the most frequently haunted place in the house was. Luke just laughed slightly, leading her into his bedroom.

“Ah, yeah, I can feel it.”

She unknowingly sat next to Luke on Michael’s bed, and Michael huffed, scooting over. Luke sat between them, and the woman pulled a tape recorder out of her bag.

“I’m just gonna ask a few questions and see if I get a response.”

Michael grinned, scooting into Luke’s lap and laying his head on Luke’s shoulder like an overgrown child, clearly curious about the woman’s tactics. She turned the recorder on before pulling something out of her bag, placing it into her pocket before Luke got a good look at it.

“That’ll stop it from lying in case it’s a malicious spirit.”

Luke looked at Michael, who just closed his eyes, sighing softly before the woman began.

“I’m going to ask a series of questions. For the yes and no questions, please knock on something, twice for yes, once for no, the rest you can speak for, so this recorder will pick up on it. Is this reasonable?”

Michael rolled his eyes.

“She’s treating me like an idiot.”

He reached out, tapping her twice on the shoulder and laughing as she jumped.

“So, you’re here. Alright, why do you stay, why have you not passed on?”

“Boredom. This isn’t helping though.”

Luke bit his lip to keep from laughing as the woman went through her questions, Michael answering sarcastically to all of them.

“What kind of spirit are you?”

Michael grinned, waving his hands in the air.

“A demon.”

Luke coughed into his hand, trying to hold his breath now as he wiped his eyes, actually in pain from holding back his laughter. He cleared his throat, and she ended the tape, quietly listening to it with a serious face as Luke went back to trying not to laugh, Michael almost crying into Luke’s shoulder, clearly finding himself hilarious. Until she got to Michael saying he was a demon.

“Oh, dear, that’s not good.”

“What if they were just kidding?”

She shook her head, standing and going through her large bag again.

“No, no, better to be safe than sorry.”

“What?”

She pulled out a large spray bottle and inspected it for a moment before nodding and going off around the room, spraying it everywhere. Luke looked at Michael, speaking softly.

“What is that?”

Michael sighed, sliding off of Luke’s lap.

“Holy water.”

“Where are you going?”

Michael just grinned at Luke as he backed toward the door.

“Look, I’d rather not be ripped apart on a molecular level, I know what she’s about to do.”

Luke stood, following him.

“Michael, what’s going on?”

“Exorcism-like thing. Oh, shit.”

Michael winced before fading out of existence as a sudden wave of dizziness hit Luke, and he sat on the ground, holding his head in his hands before closing his eyes, effectively knocked out.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's one chapter left and then another thing, and then that's it (plus an AE from Bucket List that ties these two fics together) before my next fic. Which will also be connected to GIMB and Bucket List. :o

It had been roughly two months since Luke had last seen Michael, and he had since - barely - adjusted to life both without the ghost and in his new house.

That particular evening, he was laying in bed, watching Netflix, as per usual.

“Damn, this documentary is boring.”

Luke turned so fast, he fell off his bed and got tangled in his blankets on the way down. He sighed, sticking out his one free hand.

“Help me up so I can yell at you.”

“What if I don’t?”

Luke glared at the inside of his blanket, becoming more caught in his attempts at freeing himself.

“Please.”

“I love it when you beg.”

A weight settled onto Luke’s legs, and the blanket was slowly unwrapped from his body. The second it was off, Luke flung himself at Michael, wrapping his arms around the ghost.

“Where the _fuck_ were you, Michael Clifford?”

Michael hugged Luke back, swaying him back and forth to try and comfort him.

“Regaining strength.”

“Huh?”

Michael began rubbing Luke’s back as the boy buried his face in Michael’s neck.

“The exorcism...hurt...me, so I took energy from you to preserve my existence-”

“Which is why I passed out?”

“Exactly. Anyway, I’ve been building up that energy to get stronger.”

“I thought you were gone.”

Michael just laughed.  
“Nonsense, it’d take much more than a silly medium to take out Michael Clifford. You’d need like twelve priests.”

Luke giggled, feeling silly for crying the first time he couldn’t find Michael and then moping around for two months afterwards.

“I was really worried.”

“Don’t be. I know how to handle myself.”

Luke smiled before idly wondering something now that he finally felt at home with Michael with him again.

“Why did you come back here when you could have gone literally anywhere in the world?”

Michael looked at Luke, kissing his nose.

“I have a responsibility to you, and especially as your boyfriend. I can’t just leave you alone without cuddles, now could I?”

Luke smiled, blushing slightly.

“Cuddles are important.”

Michael smiled, moving off of Luke’s lap to lift him up and toss him onto the bed, draping the blanket over him and sliding under it to snuggle in next to the blond.

“You know what?”

“What?”

“I missed you too.”

Luke grinned, running his fingers through Michael’s hair as the ghost laid his head on Luke’s chest.

**-:-:-:-:-**

Luke went bright pink at Michael’s wolf whistle as he stepped out of the bathroom, self consciously adjusting the towel around his waist.

“Oh, shut up.”

“Let me appreciate my view.”

Luke shook his head, walking through Michael into the bedroom.

“You’re ridiculous.”

“You just look lovely naked.”  
Luke went redder, shoving Michael’s side as Michael wrapped his arms around his barely covered boyfriend.

“Sto-op.”

Michael just laughed, nuzzling his face into Luke’s neck.

“You love me.”

Luke’s heart skipped half a beat as he stopped breathing for a second before trying to speak nonchalantly as he whispered, frozen as he reached into his dresser for a shirt.

“Just a little.”

“Hm?”

“I do, uh, I love you.”

Michael just grinned against Luke’s skin, and a smile grew on Luke’s face as he felt it.

“Love you too.”

A happy laugh bubbled it’s way out of Luke’s chest, and he began laughing before taking Michael’s hand in his.

“I was terrified you’d hate me for saying that.”

“Of course not. You loving me is what I want, isn’t it?”

“I’d hope so.”

Michael laughed, kissing Luke’s neck.

“You’re adorable. Now get dressed, unless you’d like to consummate our love.”

Luke blushed again, and he smacked Michael’s hand.

“You’re awful.”

The dark haired ghost just smiled, rubbing one of his hands over Luke’s stomach.

“Did I just not hear a no when I proposed sex to Luke Hemmings? I thought I’d never see the day.”

“Shut up.”

Michael laughed again, squeezing Luke in his arms.

“All you have to do is ask and you shall receive.”

Luke huffed, turning around to face Michael as the ghost flopped onto the bed.

“And what if I want _you_ to receive?”

Michael just smiled, shaking his head as he stretched out.

“You don’t.”

“Well, I don’t want ghost jizz inside me.”

Michael was silent for a moment, humming to himself.

“Well, it’s not like you’ll get pregnant.”

“How do you know that?”

“Do you have a womb in your ass?”

Luke huffed, picking up a pillow and tossing it at Michael’s head. Michael just tossed it back, hitting Luke square in the face and laughing.

“Okay, get dressed, mon amour.”

“Ah, so now you’re using French pet names?”

Michael made a soft noise of affirmation as he watched Luke pull a shirt on, laughing as he hopped around the room trying to get his jeans on.

“I could call you ma puce instead.”

“And what the hell does that mean?”

Michael smiled, pulling Luke into his side and kissing his cheek.

“My flea.”

“Hey!”

Michael just laughed, rolling away as Luke started hitting him with a pillow, beginning a pillow fight. Although, fighting a ghost who can float wasn’t exactly fair, as Luke realised when Michael hovered by the ceiling pelting him with pillows as Luke hid under his blankets for cover.

“Alright, I surrender!”

Michael cheered before moving to sit on Luke, who crossed his arms and pouted.

“Awh, poor little baby Lukey.”

“I’m an adult.”

“Who’s pouting because he lost a pillow fight to his boyfriend. Poor little baby Lukey.”

Luke huffed, hitting Michael with a pillow again before diving under his blankets and shrieking as Michael’s fingers attacked his sides.

“No! I already surrendered!”

“And then you renewed the fighting, learn how life works, ma puce.”

“I’m not a flea!”

“No, you are my flea.”

Luke twisted away from Michael, covering his stomach with his arms and whining.

“You’re so mean to me.”

Michael just grinned, shaking his head.

“I never claimed to be nice, now did I?”

 


	9. Chapter Nine - The Finale

“Good morning, Lukey.”

Luke grumbled, burying his face into his pillow.

“Wow, don’t be rude.”

Luke rolled over, shooting a fake smile at Michael before pulling his blankets out of the ghost’s hands, as Michael had thought it would be a great idea to wake Luke up by yanking his blanket off. Michael sighed, pulling it away again.

“No sleeping, I have plans for today.”

“What are we doing?”

Michael just grinned, shaking his head.

“You’ll find out.”

Luke groaned as he pulled himself out of bed, stretching.

“How ominous.”

Michael only laughed, tossing a shirt at Luke.

“Just get dressed, you petite puce.”

Luke rolled his eye, but smiled all the same, following his boyfriend’s demands.

**-:-:-:-:-**

“So,  our big plans were watching Netflix and cuddling?”

“Well, it’s still light out, so we can’t go on our oh-so romantic walk under the full moon, now can we?”

“Why does it have to be under the full moon?”

Michael shrugged, running his fingers through Luke’s hair.

“It’ll look cooler.”

Luke snorted, shaking his head.

“You are so fucking lame, I hope you know that.”

Michael smiled, squeezing the boy in his arms.

“Yet you’re in love with me.”

Luke smiled, nodding.

“Yet I’m in love with you.”

Michael grinned, kissing the top of Luke’s head.

“You’re adorable.”

Once it was sufficiently dark enough to satisfy Michael, he got up, pulling Luke along until they were out of the house. As they walked, talking about nothing of any grand importance, thoughts began running through Luke’s mind.

“You know what I think?”

“Hm?”

Luke smiled softly as he ran the thought over in his mind once more, thinking through how both versions could go.

“If you were alive, this would be a great setup for a proposal.”

Michael nodded, softly agreeing with him as he stopped on the bridge they were walking across, looking at the moon.

“It would be. Very romantic, isn’t it?”

Luke smiled, standing next to Michael, leaning against the metal rail.

“Yeah, it’d be perfect.”

He closed his eyes, thinking it through once more. Michael laughed softly.

“I know.”

The ghost turned his head to look at Luke, speaking softly with a grin.

“Too bad I never loved you.”

Michael’s words hit Luke like a massive tonne of bricks, and he felt ready to faint as his mouth went dry.

“W-what?”

Michael just laughed.

“Hemmings, I never loved you. How silly are you, did you really ignore the medium? She wasn’t stupid, but no, you let your silly feelings take over and you laughed when you should have been running to the hills. I took half your life then, and I’m ready to claim the rest of what’s mine now.”

Luke’s head felt like a whirlpool of thoughts as he tried to make sense of Michael’s words. But, no, no, Michael loved him, he had told Luke that himself, several times.

“You told me you loved me though.”

Michael grinned, his lips pulling over his teeth in a twisted smile as he spread his arms in a grand ‘ta-da’ gesture.

“What do you want me to tell you? I’m a  _ **demon**_. We  _ **lie**_. Get over it.”

Luke’s heart rate picked up, and he turned his head, looking for a possible escape or even a weapon. Michael laughed again, trapping Luke against the rails with his hands and speaking to him in a singsong voice.

“There’s nothing here!”

Luke shoved at Michael’s chest with everything that he had in him, slightly surprised when he didn’t budge. His surprise quickly turned to fear as Michael’s eyes went black and he leant in closer, almost whispering in Luke’s ear.

“You know, you were loads of fun to mess with, it’s almost a shame I have to steal your soul. Almost. You had so much potential, you know.”

“Michael…”

Michael just covered Luke’s mouth, hushing him. Luke whimpered, closing his eyes before screaming into Michael’s hand as Michael forcibly ripped his soul from his body, a dark shadow enveloping them as Michael absorbed it.

The demon smiled as he stared at Luke’s now soulless carcass, taking him to his house and setting the bedroom to make it look as if Luke had hanged himself, making sure to leave a ‘suicide’ note on the bed for good measure. He left the house, stretching out his arms as he walked towards a portal home.

“He had potential, but I had more. So, I win.”


	10. Explanation of Michael's Side

This will not be so much of a chapter, per say, but rather an explanation of Michael’s thoughts in a very large author’s note. I had considered writing it from Michael’s point of view, but, as a demon, his thoughts are perpetually warped, so I figured it’d be easier for me to translate his thoughts from my thoughts to words rather than his thoughts to words. That being said, I’m going to go through each of the nine chapters and probably some comments from ao3, as that is where I received the most feedback, as I do this, so examples will be pulled from each of those places as I explain them and add more backstory.

 

**The Summary:**

So, yes, the summary did hold a large clue to the story. My summary, for those of you who don’t know, reads:

_I made a brand of my own poison that I gave to you_

_It was the first of my experiments I’m going to put you through_

_Now it’ll only make you dizzy, sick, and paralyzed_

_I think you’ll live without the antidote, the ending’s a surprise_

Now, this is from “Demons” by Mayday Parade. Yeah, see how the name of the song fits? The next line is actually I think you’ll lie, which Michael does throughout the whole story. And as for the ending’s a surprise, I’m actually shocked at how many people were surprised by the ending, but I guess it was a surprise for more people than Luke.

 

**Chapter One:**

Now, a great portion of chapter one is just Michael fucking with Luke, playing with his iPod, playing his guitar, humming to scare him, that one time he refilled Luke’s cup. But then note the first words Michael says to Luke.

_“How stupid are you that you’re gonna use an Ouija board instead of just trying to say hi?”_

Right off the bat, that’s asshole behaviour, which I wanted you guys to pick up on. Michael then continues on, sitting uncomfortably close to Luke and then arrogantly telling Luke to ask him questions, as that’s clearly what Luke wanted, to ask Michael questions when he had the Ouija board to tell him to go away.

Now, there’s a portion of their conversation that’s really important.

_“Why are you a ghost?”_

_“I have shit to do. Only reason I’d be here.”_

_“Does it involve me?”_

_Michael shrugged, looking Luke up and down._

_“Not you specifically, but I like you enough.”_

Luke assumes Michael is a ghost, and Michael just never corrects him, seeing a way to get Luke’s trust. Luke isn’t even important to Michael, he just happened to be there, and so Michael set out to take his soul instead of someone else’s. Michael then outright tells Luke that he saps away Luke’s energy (meaning, he’s literally draining Luke’s life out of him, bit by bit, although it’s hardly noticeable to him as he’s also slowly sapping away Liz and Andrew’s life). He compares himself to both a parasite, and a sponge, which are pretty accurate comparisons.

Then, when he’s telling Luke what he can do, he says _“Generic ghost stuff, plus a bit more.”_ When Luke tries to figure out what he means, he says that Luke will find out in due time and then _“It means exactly what I said, nothing more, nothing less. You’ll find out when I want you to. If I want you to find out,”_  before distracting Luke with talk about music. What he was saying here was that he had the ability to kill Luke, but if Luke ended up boring him to the point where he just killed him for entertainment, then he’d never explain anything to Luke, he’d just be dead and then Michael would move on to a more entertaining victim.

 

**Chapter Two:**

The chapter starts off with Michael awakening Luke because he wants to play Twister, which Luke says no to, as _“you kept touching my dick last time.”_ Michael has no regards to Luke’s privacy, which is shown again when Michael mentions that he’s watched Luke change, which makes Luke uncomfortable. Which Michael takes joy in, leading to him hitting on Luke because Luke is interested in guys.

This chapter actually wasn’t that bad, Luke was just uncomfortable for most of it. But it was also just a filler chapter to show Luke settling into life with Michael, who is pretty intent on making Luke at least slightly annoyed.

 

**Chapter Three:**

_This is the chapter that Luke realises that he has had no clue whatsoever about Michael’s life, and so he asks. Michael is literally a death magnet, which is shown in his life “Michael Clifford grew up with a rather normal life. That is, if going to funerals at least twice a year was a normal thing.” “Michael had the typical life, even if it was just a bit on the lonelier side.”_ And then he dies at sixteen and the man that crashed into his motorcycle kills himself (fun fact, Michael had tormented him for revenge because he didn’t want to die).

He then leaves his parents after a week due to their grieving, but he wouldn’t say where he went. “ _All he would say is that it was far away. Ridiculously far, to the point where Luke would never see the place in his lifetime. After about six months there, he had found a nice little empty house and settled in, until Luke and his parents moved in.”_ Michael had gone to Hell, in case you didn’t get that. Luke can’t go to Hell, as he was alive, but Michael could, being a demon.

Michael then goes on to talk about his and Luke’s “relationship”, despite the fact that Luke has made it very clear several times that he does not want to date Michael, despite Michael trying to constantly change his mind. Luke calls him rude, and Michael agrees. When Luke isn’t sick anymore, Michael scares him when he gets home from school (how nice).

They then play Twister, and Michael is in control of the spinner, meaning that he manipulates how the game goes, until he can’t move without both him and Luke losing, which means that he can trap Luke under him. But before this, Luke tells him to hurry up before he falls. Michael then responds, _“Well, I want you to fall, don’t I?”_ This is kinda taken two ways. If Luke falls, Michael wins the game, which in grand retrospect, with Michael’s last words in the fic being _“I win,”_ it has a bit of a bigger meaning. Plus, Michael wants Luke to fall in love with him, as he treats that like another fun game, so Luke’s death in the end is even more entertaining. That’s why he says “You love me,” when he lays on Luke. Luke then gets caught up in thinking about kissing Michael, and Michael knows that Luke is attracted to him, so he kisses him, even though Luke doesn’t want that because morally, it’s wrong. Luke instantly runs away, but it doesn’t matter, because Michael has still done something Luke didn’t want.

 

_Comments:_

“right like, excuse me lucas, darling, please google incubus” <\- My response to cassandraloveofficial commenting on Luke’s “I’m not gonna fuck, or be fucked by a ghost” line. An incubus is a type of demon that seduces a person.

 

**Chapter Four:**

Michael tells Luke that he can’t ignore him because Luke can’t get rid of him and that he refuses to leave him alone. When Luke demands to know why Michael kissed him against his will, Michael says “there was an opportunity and I took it I already said sorry.” He then says that even though Luke said he wouldn’t have sex with Michael, he said nothing about kissing him, which Luke finds irrelevant. There’s then this section:

_“Luke, I said I was sorry already, what more do you want from me?”_

_“I didn’t ask for an apology, I asked why the hell you kissed me!”_

_“I don’t even do apologies.”_

_Luke huffed, glaring at the barely transparent ghost. Clearly, kissing Luke had counted as transferred human energy, and had made Michael stronger, which he blatantly showed off as he grabbed Luke’s hands and held them at his sides, against the tree._

_“Let me go, dumbass.”_

_Luke tried to yank his hands away, only for Michael to hold them tighter. Michael grinned at the younger boy, almost predatorily._

_“You liked it.”_

_“Liked what?”_

_“Don’t play dumb with me, Hemmings. You liked it when I kissed you.”_

_“That has nothing to do with it.”_

_Michael simply smiled._

_“Lukey, that has everything to do with it.”_

DING DING DING THOSE ARE THE ABUSIVE BEHAVIOUR BELLS WHY WAS NO ONE ALARMED BY THIS WHEN I LAID IT ON SO HEAVY

Oh right, it’s because Michael kisses Luke then and takes him on a coffee date, so that completely erases the abusive behaviour and the fact that Luke was uncomfortable during their kiss. Honestly, that was just me trying to see how much I could get away with before someone yelled at me for romanticising abusive behaviour, but somehow, no one caught it? I dunno, reading it over now makes me uncomfortable if I’m gonna be honest.

A girl named Ashleigh comes over to Luke to talk to him, and since she’s nice and Luke likes her, he ignores Michael in favour of her company, which makes Michael extremely surly.

 _“Unfortunately, Luke found it a bit hard to keep up a conversation with her as they ate, as Michael kept grumbling the whole time and making snide remarks about everything Ashleigh said.”_ (What an asshole, amirite?)

Luke then walks Ashleigh home, and since Luke was doing quite boyfriendly things with her the whole day, she reads it wrong, and Michael knows this and starts laughing hysterically instead giving Luke a hint, just so Luke will be uncomfortable when she kisses him. When they get home, he takes the chance to make Luke even more uncomfortable by pretty much forcing Luke to say he was the better kisser out of the two.

 

**Chapter Five:**

Chapter five starts off right away with Michael being a dickwad, as usual in this fic. He literally invades Luke’s privacy by stealing his laptop and sitting on the ceiling so Luke can’t get to him as he goes through his internet history, despite Luke repeatedly telling him to give it back. He then embarrasses him by reading his history aloud, which makes Luke react violently, throwing his pillow at Michael before slapping him when Michael tried to brush his emotions off and cuddle him.

_Luke threw his pillow at Michael’s head, and rolled away when Michael floated down from the ceiling to sit next to him._

_“No, let’s cuddle, since you obviously like me so much.”_

_Michael opened up his arms to Luke, and there was a second of silence before Luke’s hand flew out, his palm connecting right to Michael’s cheek. Michael’s expression immediately darkened, and he grabbed Luke’s wrist._

_“Did you just fucking hit me?”_

_Luke yanked his hand away, still bright red in the face._

_“Why do you have to be such an asshole to me so much? Every time I tell you not to do something, you go ahead and do it anyway!”_

_Michael stared at Luke, now seeing the angry, embarrassed tears in his eyes. He leant against Luke, wrapping his arms around the blond boy and burying his face in Luke’s neck._

_“I’m sorry.”_

_Luke sighed, stroking Michael’s hair._

_“I’m sorry I hit you.”_

_“‘S fine, you don't hit very hard anyway.”_

Luke ends up apologising more than Michael, even though he finally stood up for himself, because Michael manipulated Luke’s emotions by making it seem like he was upset by hiding his face.

We then skip to Luke being sick, and Michael talks about Luke’s being sick as disgusting, which, it is, but he’s smiling and staying away from him as he says so, not bothering to help him until Luke becomes seriously pitiful and a danger to himself, as he’s hardly able to stand due to being weak. His helping Luke really just stems from the fact that he’s bored because Luke’s sick, and his disgust at the weakness of the human immune system, so the faster Luke is healthy again, the sooner he can get around to having fun because healthy people are more fun to play with. He then treats Luke like a child, trying to feed him like a baby before being forced to take care of Luke as he gets sick again.

 

**Chapter Six:**

You learn about Luke in this chapter, and discover that his self esteem is not all it could be, due to him feeling “broken” for most of his childhood and then subsequent bullying until he moved. Also, fun fact, the boyfriend he had that moved away was Ashton, but since he wasn’t really in the story, I never bothered saying that.

Anyway, it flips back to Michael trying to convince Luke to date him (which is another fun game to him, watching Luke’s reservations about dating him crumble as Luke grows to like him more and more). Luke then acknowledges that his arguing is useless, like always. No matter what, Michael will always, always, get his way. And then there’s this bit:

_“You’re so mean to me sometimes, you know that?”_

_Luke just smiled, running his fingers through Michael’s dark hair._

_“It’s how I show affection.”_

_“That’s an abusive relationship though.”_

_“You aren’t my boyfriend.”_

_“Maybe not to you. But to me, I am.”_

_Luke just closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around Michael as the ghost began humming softly._

_“Fine.”_

Michael grinned in triumph as Luke’s face tinted a slight shade of red as he slowly traced a heart over Michael’s back.

Like Michael’s one to talk about an abusive relationship. *rolls eyes* And then there’s the last sentence, which I particularly like. Luke is being all cute and drawing a heart on Michael’s back, but Michael’s grinning in triumph, like he came to conquer and did it, which he’s essentially done. He’s just a step closer to his goal, and the end of his little games.

 

_Comments:_

“Mollylovespizza: Aw Luke’s backstory was sad but it’s alright he has Michael now.”

I then responded, “He would have been alright if he had his old boyfriend. Michael makes it different than alright…” <\- this is pretty self-explanatory, I believe

 

**Chapter Seven:**

Now, for this chapter, you might be thinking “wait, but Michael is showing Luke something super special to him, how is that construed as mean?” And I’ll tell you. It isn’t. It was Michael gaining more of Luke’s trust. If Luke trusts him wholly, Michael’s betrayal will just taste even more sweet. However, Michael did fuck with him while they were getting there when Michael floated Luke over a pond and dropped him a few inches off the ground to scare him because Luke was scared of heights.

And now, there’s the medium. I never bothered giving her a name, but I liked her. But you also find out that Michael was fucking with Liz and Andrew, when they ask if Luke had noticed anything before.

_“Like...things moving by themselves, singing from an empty room, weird scratches and bruises that come from nowhere, weird shadows, stuff like that.”_

_“Like...a ghost?”_

_“Exactly.”_

Luke looked at Michael, who just laughed, the vibrations of his voice resonating throughout the room, scaring Luke a little.

Luke tries to stop them from bringing the medium over, but then just ends up just following her around, trying to protect Michael. She then goes to Luke’s room, aka the place Michael spends the most time, and the three of them sit on Luke’s bed while she asks Michael questions and records them, keeping something that keeps malicious spirits from lying on her person. So, to get around that, Michael answers her questions in a sarcastic manner to avoid freaking Luke out.

_“What kind of spirit are you?”_

_Michael grinned, waving his hands in the air._

_“A demon.”_

He flat out said he was a demon, but due to his...jazz hands, I suppose, Luke didn’t take him seriously. So, she exorcised him. Or, tried to. She sprays holy water around the room, and Michael leaves, but Luke follows him, and ends up getting knocked out. What had happened was that Michael made Luke think that something bad was gonna happen to him, when in reality, he just used it as an excuse to sap a large amount of Luke’s life force and leave for a while.

 

**Chapter Eight:**

So, they say absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? Yeah, well, Michael takes advantage of that when he pulls a Thoreau and peaces out (although Michael only leaves for two months and Thoreau lives in his cabin in the middle of the woods for like two years but you get my point).

Aaaaand then Michael starts spouting complete bullshit about how “the exorcism hurt him and he was regaining strength and blah blah blah”. BUT THEN

_“I thought you were gone.”_

_Michael just laughed._

_“Nonsense, it’d take much more than a silly medium to take out Michael Clifford. You’d need like twelve priests.”_

Strong ass demon, much? But yeah, he makes Luke feel stupid about himself until Michael spouts more bullshit about how Michael came back to him because he had a responsibility to Luke, being his boyfriend (he just wants Luke’s soul).

_“You love me.”_

_Luke’s heart skipped half a beat as he stopped breathing for a second before trying to speak nonchalantly as he whispered...._

_“Just a little.”_

_“Hm?”_

_“I do, uh, I love you.”_

_Michael just grinned against Luke’s skin, and a smile grew on Luke’s face as he felt it._

_“Love you too.”_

_A happy laugh bubbled it’s way out of Luke’s chest, and he began laughing before taking Michael’s hand in his._

_“I was terrified you’d hate me for saying that.”_

_“Of course not. You loving me is what I want, isn’t it?”_

Wow, what a liar Michael is, he doesn’t love Luke, he loves the game he created in getting Luke to love him, and now that Luke loves him...well, there’s a reason that the next chapter was the last one. Also, hence the _“You loving me is what I want, isn’t it?”_

And thennnnnnn

_“You’re so mean to me.”_

_Michael just grinned, shaking his head._

_“I never claimed to be nice, now did I?”_

Michael is nowhere near nice, and me placing this at the end of the second-to-last chapter was my final warning to you.

 

**Chapter Nine:**

Michael made plans for Luke. However, those needed to be executed in the dark. Also, when Michael said it would look cooler under the full moon, he meant that, there was no secret power gaining behind that, he literally just thought it’d be cooler looking if he stole Luke’s soul  under the full moon, so there’s that. Also, note how when Luke tells Michael that he loves him before they leave, Michael just says that Luke’s adorable, he doesn’t say it back.

AND THEN WE GET TO THE TRUE ASSHOLE PART

Luke says how nice of a proposal setup their little “date” would make but then Michael is just like “Yeah, but no, I don’t love you.”  And G O D Michael’s lil speachy bits before he kills Michael give me so much life.

_“Hemmings, I never loved you. How silly are you, did you really ignore the medium? She wasn’t stupid, but no, you let your silly feelings take over and you laughed when you should have been running to the hills. I took half your life then, and I’m ready to claim the rest of what’s mine now.”_

_Luke’s head felt like a whirlpool of thoughts as he tried to make sense of Michael’s words. But, no, no, Michael loved him, he had told Luke that himself, several times._

_“You told me you loved me though.”_

_Michael grinned, his lips pulling over his teeth in a twisted smile as he spread his arms in a grand ‘ta-da’ gesture._

_“What do you want me to tell you? I’m a_ **demon** _. We_ **lie** _. Get over it.”_

_Luke’s heart rate picked up, and he turned his head, looking for a possible escape or even a weapon. Michael laughed again, trapping Luke against the rails with his hands and speaking to him in a singsong voice._

_“There’s nothing here!”_

_Luke shoved at Michael’s chest with everything that he had in him, slightly surprised when he didn’t budge. His surprise quickly turned to fear as Michael’s eyes went black and he leant in closer, almost whispering in Luke’s ear._

_“You know, you were loads of fun to mess with, it’s almost a shame I have to steal your soul. Almost. You had so much potential, you know.”_

Like, god, that almost explains the entire fic right there. But then, to top it off, Michael rips Luke’s soul out of his body leaving him alive until he hangs him. Luke dies by being hung, so he sees Michael set everything up for his “suicide” before he actually dies.

And this fic is why I am an asshole. *bows deeply*

 

And then there’s zaynjawaads’ comment, which I always read and is beautiful: “ _for your sake i'm glad none of your readers know much about demonology._

_"right like, excuse me lucas, darling, please google incubus"_

_"I'm a demon"_

_“I never claimed to be nice, now did I?”_

_"Michael makes it different than alright..."_

_"it’d take much more than a silly medium to take out michael clifford. you’d need like twelve priests.”_

_^ this comment though. incubi have been said to hold no reverence for all that is holy and have no fear of exorcists or exorcisms. hence why you'd need 'like twelve priests', because luke had actually given the incubus invitation into his bed._

_you've got balls, i'll give you that. this story was fucking brilliant._

_i think i am in love._ ”

 

So, this is the end of Ghost In My Bedroom, I hope you enjoyed the ride, I’m sorry that this explanation took so long to do, but hey, it got done c:


End file.
